SUNDAY HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHIAPRIL 10, 2016 09| nation |

Rahul Singh■ rahul.singh@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: The Make in India planto build local capacity in defencehas fuelled a trend of private com-panies hiring retired top militarybrass and tap their expertise toget a toehold in the arms bazaar.

While the development hasopened new and greener pasturesfor defence personnel it has alsoraised questions over conflict ofinterest and propriety.

Recently, Rolta India Limitedhired Lieutenant General KTParnaik, a retired Northern Armycommander, to head its defence business. To kick-start its new businesses, Reliance Defence andAerospace (RDA) inducted a bat-tery of retired three-star officers— Air Marshal M Matheswaran,president of aerospace business; Vice Admiral HS Malhi, grouppresident of Reliance Defenceand Engineering Ltd; LieutenantGeneral MS Buttar, president ofland systems and Vice AdmiralKN Sushil, president of subma-rine business.

A senior RDA executive saidthe officers were hired for theiroperational expertise and notfor liaisoning.

Industry sources said thesalaries range from ̀ 36 lakh perannum to ̀ One crore, dependingon the profile of retired officersand the companies that hire them.

Retired officers are free tojoin defence companies after a year-long cooling-off period. The opinion is divided on whetherthis ‘break’ is sufficient to avoid

a conflict-of-interest situation.In 2012, a Parliamentary panel

suggested the cooling-off periodbe extended to five years to addressconcerns about top officialsbeing hired by firms to influence decisions.

Air Vice Marshal AJS Walia(retd), now the regional execu-tive (India and South Asia) ofSikorsky Aircraft Corporation,argues that top officers havemanned sensitive positions inservice and are aware of theirresponsibility to avoid conflictof interest.

“They come with decades of experience. They understandtechnology and how require-

ments change. Why should thistalent be wasted on the golfcourse?” he said.

But some serving officers havecalled for stricter checks and bal-ances to ensure the ‘LakshmanRekha’ of propriety wasnot crossed. “There are pros andcons...Old contacts definitely should not be used to push busi-ness interests,” said a senior offic-er on the condition of anonymity.

Industry leaders contend that preference for retired officersrests solely on their understand-ing of customers’ requirement.“Firms hire them to communi-cate to the armed forces what they are all about and what they

bring to the table,” said AshokAtluri, managing director of ZenTechnologies, an indigenous firm that manufactures simulators.

“There are many experts in the market to interpret the DPP. Retired brass only providesinsights into what solutions may be liked by the customers,” saidthe CEO of a top defence firm,adding that the defence pro-curement procedure (DPP) wastransparent and left no room for outsiders to influence decisions.

Lieutenant General JS Bajwa(retd), editor of Indian DefenceReview, concurs. “Gone are thedays when people could influencedecisions,” Bajwa added.

Retd military brass find lucrativecareers in growing defence sectorVEXED ISSUE While the plan to build local capacity in defence has opened up new professions for former personnel, it has also raised questions over their conflict of interest

■ US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has offered to manufacture itsF-16 fighter jet in the country under Make in India which hasgenerated more jobs for former military personnel. LOCKHEED MARTIN

HTSUNDAYSPECIAL

■ A police inspector publicly humiliates and beats a man accused of raping his daughter-in-law in Rajkot.The city police continue to indulge in the practice of public shaming called ‘Sarbhara’. PARISH JOSHI / HT FILE

Public shaming still an integral part of Rajkot police’s arsenalHiral Dave■ letters@hindustantimes.com

RAJKOT: A repeat offender wasforced to crawl, a thief was madeto perform sit-ups, and so weresome unruly youngsters break-ing traffic norms on Holi. Theseare just some of the techniquesused by the Rajkot police to pub-licly shame lawbreakers.

It is not uncommon to seepolice parade handcuffedoffenders, asking them to beg for forgiveness, making them todo sit-ups or even forcing themto crawl in this laidback city ofthe Saurashtra peninsula.

This years-old practice of pub-lic shaming is called ‘sarbhara’(treatment).

Observers say the only change the practice has seen over thedecades is that public thrashing of criminals has stopped, but thehumiliation continues.

At least five ‘sarbharas’ havetaken place this year alone.

Some police officers said pub-lic shaming was a demand of thepeople, but the commissionerclaimed to have put an end tothe practice.

“Rajkot has this tradition.But we have stopped the practicenow,” said police commissionerAnupamsingh Gehlot, who tookcharge in February.

Videos and photographs, how-ever, tell a different story.

“If someone claims he is thegunda (don) of his area, the

police must beat and humili-ate him in the same area tobreak his moral,” said retiredcrime branch police inspec-tor Harisinh Jankant, who isinvolved in a couple of caseswith the human rights commis-sion. Locals too seem to agree with the approach.

“It had become unsafe toroam freely in areas such asChunarwada. Police are justifiedin their behaviour,” said RameshDhanji, a Rajkot resident.

But the argument that such punishments “break the moralof criminals” does not seem to hold true in every case. BaliDanger, who was wanted incases involving extortion, firing,blackmailing and threatening,

was caught in March 2010 andparaded on the city roads. Whenreleased, however, he went backto his criminal ways, and wasarrested in a firing case in 2014.

Also, the most dreaded crim-inals are usually spared thehumiliation.

“We wonder why DawoodIbrahim’s gang members such as Asif Raza Khan, Aftab Ansari and Rahu Anadkat were spared,”said Jitu Ramani, a private firm employee.

“It’s police atrocity and showsthe frustration of the force that has failed to keep crimein check,” said Anil Desai, a former public prosecutor who now does private practice for human rights cases.

■ Theft accused Shakti madeto crawl on the road. JAYESH RAVRANIT / HT FILE

‘US has bigger global agenda with India than Pak’NEW YORK: US Defence SecretaryAsh Carter said that the UnitedStates has a much bigger globalagenda with India in contrast to Pakistan, and that Washingtonhas moved far beyond looking atits relations with the South Asian neighbors as linked.

In his address before leaving on a visit to India, Carter said the US relations with India were

“destined to be one of the mostsignificant partnerships of the21st century.” He said there wouldbe “exciting new projects” and a“strategic handshake” with India, encompassing military coopera-tion and defence co-production.

“There’s important businesswith respect to Pakistan, but wehave much more—a whole globalagenda with India, an agenda that

covers all kinds of issues,” Cartersaid on Friday.

He was answering a questionduring a speech about how thegrowing US ties with India willimpact Washington’s relationswith Islamabad.

“The days are gone whenwe only deal with India as theother side of the Pakistan coin,or Pakistan as the other side of

India’s coin,” he said. While describing Pakistan as

“an important security partner,”he said,”We have a big set of issueshaving to do with the border with Afghanistan where we continueto operate; with terrorism, both on Pakistan’s territory and alsocross-border into Afghanistan,including affecting US servicemembers there.” IANS

Pearl Group’s topoffi cials’ kin underCBI scanner inponzi scam probeAbhishek Sharan■ letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: A probe by the CentralBureau of Investigation(CBI)has revealed that two PearlGroup companies—PACL andPGF—allegedly siphoned off`670 crore of investors’ funds tobankroll some Australian firms.

The role of four close relativesof a top official is being exam-ined in the transactions.

The four persons underCBI’s Pearl-ponzi-scam probescanner are related to PACL’sCMD Nirmal Singh Bhangooand allegedly “directors in twoAustralia-based firms set up bythe Group as joint ventures,”said an agency source. “Thetwo Group firms in Australia----Pearls Australasia Pty Limitedand Pearls Australasia Mirage 1Pty Limited—are the ones thatreceived the fund of `670 crore,”said the source.

The `670 crore of investors’funds was allegedly divertedby PACL to an associate firm,Pearls Infrastructure ProjectsLimited (PIPL), which in turntransferred them to the twoAustralian joint-venture firms.

PACL and PGF were amongthe six named as accused inthe CBI’s case chargesheet onThursday in a Delhi court. Theywere accused of duping 5.5 croreinvestors with bogus allotmentletters by collecting ̀ 45,000 crorefrom them as deposits for the“sale and development of agri-cultural plots.” Apart from thePACL and PGF, four of their sen-ior officials, including Bhangoo,were named in the chargesheet.All the accused have deniedany wrongdoing as alleged bythe CBI.

“CBI could not examine thefour relatives under the scan-ner as they were reportedly inAustralia but their version willbe taken in course of the ongo-ing probe as supplementarychargesheets are to be filed,”said the source.

PACL AND PGF ALLEGEDLY SIPHONED OFF `670 CRORE OF INVESTORS’ FUNDS TO BANKROLL SOME AUSTRALIAN FIRMS

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